Oh, how I hate this kind of theme. Weekly photo challenge, I am disappointed in you. But nonetheless, I’m playing along.

So, 2012… I wrote and defended a dissertation, traveled a lot*, did some backpacking, had a dental implant removed and reimplanted, and had about a zillion med changes. Plus a lot of other stuff in between.

Hi DeeDee. I have only recently started reading your excellent blog – I was attracted by the interesting title and content. Please keep it up and I wish you all the best in 2013 – Happy New Year from England! I hope you will find some satisfactions from your journeys, and find a way to live with yourself, both your negatives and your positives!

I was diagnosed 12 years ago with bipolar disorder (then labelled manic depression) – I’m convinced it’s genetic and hereditary but triggered by events and circumstances (in my case, my dear mother’s early death, which I wasn’t prepared for and caring for my dad who wasn’t prepared either!). At first, it was a very negative time, but slowly but surely with help and support from loved ones and professionals – and lots of reading (thanks to the power of the Internet), I now look at it as a positive – and call my condition “positive bipolarity”. There is some excellent research work being done on understanding this condition, especially in England and Sweden, – and especially how it relates to those of us who do/have creativity and creative thinking skills. I really should write a resume of this for others to read and help understand maybe themselves.

I’m willing to share my experiences and knowledge with you and with others – and ask that you email me at john@youcantbeeverybodysfriend.com. I will help others with similar situations to mine as much as possible.

Based on all the research I’ve read, the general consensus now seems to be that it’s a highly genetic and heritable condition, but generally an environmental trigger is required. I’ve seen the articles about creativity, too – despite the challenges, I think I certainly benefit from thinking/experiencing differently.

The ADD, however, I could live without. Similar creativity benefits, but not at all worth putting up with the constant frustration of executive dysfunction.

Thanks DeeDee for that encouraging response. Please keep me informed of any research or literature you read or have access to on the links between creativity and bipolarity (be that positive or negative). I will try to finish and then circulate my own resume of the research and experiences I have.

Mine are either supported or complicated (don’t know which or is it both?) by my reading, understanding and then use of the dialectic thinking philosophies developed by Hegel, back in the 1800’s. I studied these with great fascination whilst doing my Bachelors Degree in Social Anthropolgy vack in the 1960’s – and then used the processes in my market research career and businesses, including the highly successful development of what I called Hegel or dialectic focus groups. Again, anyone else reading this who wants to find out more or discuss this is welcome to contact me by email.

I think everyone doing an advanced degree struggles a little bit, but it’s a matter of degrees (yep, pun intended…) A lot of people clearly have issues with maintaining physical health during a grad program (self included) but it’s a lot harder to tell if others are suffering like you and just trying to hide it as well.